Foul play in the Rose City

Books

The City of Roses has a long and honorable history of crime and corruption, starting as far back as the post-Civil War frontier days, leading into the mobster-infused decades of the twentieth century when prohibition, prostitution, gambling, and hard drugs besieged the town.

The so-called “Great Portland Vice Scandal of 1956-57” spilled into national politics, with hearings before the Senate Rackets Committee. When the ’70s rolled around, members of the police’s narcotics squad were caught red-handed perpetrating nefarious deeds. This Northwest city, known best today for its punk rock and hipster comedies like Portlandia, was once overrun with corruption and foul play. Loaded with vintage photos, Phil Stanford spills the beans in Rose City Vice.